She put a hand to her mouth, pressing the knuckles against her teeth, unhappy with herself. Maybe it wasn't their fault. After all, the government of the State was Li Yuan's business, not Kim's. That said, she knew how strongly Kim had felt about it; how he had always argued in favour of putting something back into the system that had given him his chance. About how they should make it possible for others.
So what did she do? Did she tell him? And if she told him, what would he decide? Would he abandon their plans and turn back inward to try to sort the mess out? Because if he did, he would fail. She understood that now. Chung Kuo was a giant powder keg. All wars - even the great war against DeVore in which so many had died - would be as rehearsals for the next one, for the next war would destroy what was left of civilisation.
Jelka let out a sigh then looked across to where Heng Yu sat, his head tilted to the left, his eyes closed, resting. Across from him, Mileja leaned over the travel-table, her tongue poking from the corner of her mouth in concentration as she sketched in her book.
Sketches . . .
She had seen Hannah's sketches of the weapons Li Yuan was developing. Deadly things - spin-offs of technologies Kim had developed for more peaceful means. Yes, and rumour was the Americans had more of the same. Awful, inhuman things made for inhuman uses. Things that maimed and killed indiscriminately. Machines whose sole purpose was to destroy. No. Whatever happened, she decided she would keep this from him. In case the pity in him outweighed the common sense. And to prevent him from making one last futile gesture. Besides, she had seen how the merest mention of the starfleets lit men up with hope. Even Karr. Things might be bad, the end might well be near here on Chung Kuo, but so long as it wasn't the end, then men could carry on, their eyes alive, knowing that there was a future. How strange that was. How . .. unexpected. She moved in her seat, trying to get more comfortable, and as she did there was a thump and the craft juddered.
"Wha . . .?" Heng was instantly awake. As he went to stand, the craft swung to the right, throwing him back into his seat. A moment later a face appeared around the door to the cockpit.
"What"s happening?" Heng asked, hanging on tightly as the craft banked and began to rise swiftly.
"We were shot at from below, Master. Simple hand-weapons, by the feel of it. One round hit our port wing, but everything seems okay. All systems are functional. But we're taking evasive action."
At the co-pilot's words, Mileja, who had been looking about her, clearly frightened, burst into tears. Jelka pulled herself up out of her chair and went across, sitting beside her young daughter and comforting her as the craft continued its steep climb.
"Well, there's a first," Heng murmured to himself, clearly , _. shaken by the incident. He looked to Jelka and slowly shook his head. "I must apologise. I thought..."
He broke off, then sat back, sighing heavily. "Day by day it gets worse. Like the other day. I was flying in to Heidelberg, idly looking out of the window, when I saw two guards chasing a group of boys down a deserted alleyway. Young boys, they were... oh, nine, ten years old at most. The boys were gaining on the guards. I remember smiling and wondering to myself just what they'd done, when one of the guards stopped and pulled something from his tunic."
Heng shuddered, then looked away, clearly disturbed by the memory. He licked at his lips nervously, then continued. "I knew at once what it was. I wanted to do something - to intercede and stop it before it went any further, but I was too far away. I couldn't. . . Well, anyway, I saw the guard lift the tiny box and point it at the boys, as if he were pointing a gun at them. They were running, they were still running, when the explosions happened."
"Explosions?" Jelka was cradling the now silent Mileja, pressing her head into her chest tightly, as if to protect her against any further attacks.
"They were wired, you see." Heng made a gesture with both hands as if his skull were flying apart.
Jelka shuddered, staring at the Chancellor wide-eyed now. "They can do that?" Heng snapped his fingers. "Like that." "Aiya . . . And the boys?"
"Dead before they fell. Or three of them were. One of them got away. He wasn't wired, you see. He . . ."
Heng fell silent, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Cuddled into her mother, Mileja was absolutely still, clearly listening to it all.
"Can't you . . . do anything?" Mileja asked after a moment, breaking the awkward silence.
In answer, Heng Yu turned his head and, pulling down the silk of his collar, showed Mileja the dark scar on the neck beneath his ear where his own wire had been inserted. "The Empress insisted we set an example. We all have them now."
"And Karr? Is he wired, too?" Jelka asked. If he had, she hadn't noticed.
Heng Yu shook his head. "Not Karr. She'd need a reason, and she hasn't got one. Not yet, anyway. No, Gregor's resignation was the best thing - maybe the only good thing - that's happened these last few years. The fact that he's not inside . . ."
"And not wired."
Heng Yu nodded.
Jelka looked away. Still she held her daughter tightly. Her voice was much quieter now. "How much longer can this go on, Master Heng?"
"Not long," he said simply. "When they start shooting at Imperial craft, how long can it be before they choose to attack the San Chang itself?"
Heng sighed. "No, Jelka Ward. Say farewell to your father and get out. Out, while there's still time to get out."
Kim was sitting at his desk, scrutinising Ikuro's plans in detail when Wen Ch'ang poked his head around the door.
"Kim?"
Kim looked up. "Ah, Wen Ch'ang . . . come in. How's it going?"
"It's ready," Wen Ch'ang said, coming across. "You can go inside whenever you want."
"Good," Kim said, turning the plans so he could see. "What do you think?"
Wen Ch'ang leaned across the desk, studying the drawings silently for a minute or two, then he looked up at Kim and smiled. "It looks fine to me. If the general principles are sound ..."
"Shen Li says they've bored hundreds of these things, one or two of them even bigger than these specifications."
"But...?"
Kim laughed. "How did you know there was a but? Are you a mind-reader, Wen Ch'ang?"
"There's always a but," Wen Ch'ang said, returning Kim's smile in his lopsided fashion.
Kim shrugged. "It's just that this is so important. We're not talking about building extraction tunnels here, we're talking about building escape vents for the forces released by massive explosions."
"So?"
"So we can't afford to get it wrong."
"Well then, try it out. Experiment. That's what you're always telling me, neh?"
Kim laughed. "What? On one of the smaller moons?"
"Precisely."
"But that would give the game away, surely? They'd see it, even on Chung Kuo."
Wen Ch'ang shrugged. "Maybe. But what could Li Yuan do? Tell you to stop?"
"No. But maybe he'd send someone to try to stop us. To sabotage things."
"And maybe he knows already." Wen Ch'ang looked at the drawings again and smiled. "As I said, to my eyes that looks like a good piece of work. It's precisely what we were looking for." He looked back at Kim. "If it's the security angle you're worried about, then double the guard on all vital installations. Take whatever precautions are necessary. But test this out. Build a prototype ... on Sinope, maybe . . . that'd be big enough to give us a meaningful result, neh?"
Kim sat back, steepling his fingers together as he considered it, then looked to Wen Ch'ang again and smiled. "Okay. You arrange it."
Wen Ch'ang smiled back at him, "After all, I've so little to do."
"Am I working you too hard?"
Wen Ch'ang grinned then shook his head. "No. I'll gladly do it, Kim. This Shen Li ... he's here on Ganymede, right?"